Progress future-proofing pays off for Steloy

When Fischer & Associates, an industrial engineering consultancy specialising in IT system specification and design, was approached to develop and maintain Steloy Precision Steel Castings` Foundry Management and Information System (FOMIS), the consultants found that their task was made considerably easier, by the elegance of Progress`s development environment.

"The original FOMIS system was developed for Steloy in 1987, but we found it required only minor adjustments and customisation," says Bert Kruger, a partner at Fischer & Associates. Since taking over management and maintenance of the system for Bronkhorstspruit-based Steloy in 1994, Fischer & Associates has been asked to make a number additions and adjustments and each time the task has been simplified by the elegance of Progress`s development environment.

"The initial investment made by Steloy in choosing Progress as the development environment has meant that the company could develop and maintain a system that functioned optimally for more than 13 years, without requiring more than minor enhancements to keep up with developments in technology," notes Kruger. "Aside from offering low cost of ownership, Progress is renowned for future-proofing, and we are confident that the new system will meet our client`s demands for at least another decade."

For example, when Steloy acquired an open-pit colliery, PD Foundries, in Secunda in 1995 the only changes required to set the system up in the new site were adjustments to cater for the new company`s name, and the differences in the day-to-day running of the business. Both Steloy and PD Foundries use the same source and structures.

Y2K also posed no real problem. Changes were made to the date and order number format, forms were recompiled and fields were trimmed to ensure that reports fitted into the required space. Y2K compliancy was effected via a transition from the Novell/DOS environment to the character version of Progress 8.3, with the system running on Windows NT and Workstation.

Today FOMIS is used by various departments in the company for quotations, order placement and control, production planning and control, recording of casting history - including alloy composition, heat treatment and machining history - scrap analysis and control, and invoicing. It performs a critical function in the company, as aside from providing information on the status of orders, it is essential for recording specific casting histories, which is a requirement of the industry.

"The cost of operating and maintaining the system has been minimal," says Kruger. "The system requires very little attention, and because it is self-tuning, it does not require the services of a database administrator which, in itself, is a significant saving." He adds that Steloy had not considered upgrading to later versions of Progress - until it became necessary to do so for Y2K compliancy - because the performance, capabilities and output of the original Progress system were more than adequate.

"Progress`s track record positions it as a technology that enables people to develop applications and application software easily, efficiently and cost-effectively," says Rick Parry, MD of Progress Software SA. "The concept of recycling is as relevant to business as it is to the environment.

Companies that reuse existing resources effectively are better able to contain costs and use proven business systems while expanding their operations to take advantage of new opportunities and technology. The its future-proofing methodologies, Progress Software provides a clear road map to reuse existing Progress applications with new technology and standards."

Currently, over 2 000 software houses have used Progress development technology to develop over 5 000 applications that are being utilised in virtually every market - from central and local government, to manufacturing, distribution, warehousing, health care administration, property management, gaming and e-procurement."